Mystery Boxes Are the Only Way to Get This Mythical Pokémon in 'Pokémon GO'

Obtaining all of the different Pokémon available in the popular AR mobile game Pokémon GO is incredibly difficult — especially if you want to obtain the Mythicals and Legendaries, as there are limited events where many of them are available.

Thankfully, there are certain items you can get as you play that make this easier — including the Mystery Box. Here's a guide on how to get Mystery Boxes and what they do in Pokémon GO.

Mystery Boxes were originally introduced to Pokémon GO in 2018 following the release of Pokémon Let's Go, Eevee! and Let's Go, Pikachu! These boxes are the only way in the game for players to obtain the Mythical Pokémon, Meltan. Obtaining a Mystery Box will make the Pokémon temporarily spawn for a limited period of time, giving you the opportunity to capture it and add it to your collection.

Niantic then threw another event promoting the Mystery Boxes with the release of Pokémon HOME, giving players even more opportunities to capture a Meltan. While there have been previous events surrounding the Mystery Boxes, you do not need to wait for one to obtain one for yourself.

If you want to get a Mystery Box and your chance at catching a Meltan, you'll have to transfer one of your Pokémon from the Pokémon GO app to either Pokémon HOME or a copy of Let's Go, Eevee! or Let's Go, Pikachu!

Unfortunately, you can only earn one Mystery Box every three days, so even if you transfer multiple Pokémon between the games in one day, you'll only be able to obtain one Mystery Box. At this time, there's no reliable way to farm the Mystery Boxes.

The easiest way to do this is to transfer a Pokémon to Pokémon HOME. To do this, download the app onto the same device you play Pokémon GO on. Open the HOME app and link it to your Pokémon GO account. Once you've done this, you'll be able to transfer a Pokémon from Pokémon GO into Pokémon HOME and then open up the items tab in Pokémon GO.

You should have a Mystery Box in your items, so long as the transfer was successful. You may have to close out and reopen the app if it doesn't automatically show.

Tap on the Mystery Box to use it and Meltan will begin to spawn! Be sure you have enough PokéBalls before you use the box, as you'll only get a limited time to obtain the Pokémon before it disappears and you have to wait to try again.

Meltan evolves into Melmetal, but unfortunately it is an incredibly difficult process to do so. Like Magikarp, you'll need 400 Meltan candies to evolve it. These can be obtained both by catching the Pokémon and by taking walks with it as your buddy.

Because you can only use one Mystery Box every three days, it'll take you some time to obtain enough candies to evolve it, but it's not impossible if you're dedicated.